DUNCAN —
While much of Oklahoma is already dealing with snow, extremely wet mushy snow, mostly it was just rain for Stephens County throughout Wednesday.
Some small pebble sleet fell intermittently throughout the day, but did not cause any problems in terms of weather.
By 7 p.m. Wednesday, the temperature was at 36 degrees, not quite cold enough to produce snow, which needs 32 degrees. A check of the official National Weather Service rain gauge on The Banner’s property revealed that 0.07 inches had occurred throughout Wednesday, after already measuring 0.58 at 8 a.m., bringing the total rainfall since Tuesday 8 a.m. to 0.65 inches.
That brings the year-to-date total rainfall to 2.33 inches. Compared to the total rainfalls for 2012 which were at 2.78. On this date in 2012, rainfall recorded was at 0.09 inches.
Late Wednesday, NWS out of Tulsa had issued a winter storm warning for all of northern Oklahoma effective until this afternoon, while a winter weather advisory was in place for most of the west Central and east central regions of the state throughout today. Expected with this storm system is freezing rain. Sleet and snow are also to be expected. The storm could produce thunderstorms.
In Edmond at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday where The Banner is printed during the week, reports were 39 degrees and raining lightly with a possibility of the moisture freezing.
According to Associated Press reports out of St. Louis, snow plows and salt spreaders throughout the heartland region prepared for what could be a deadly winter storm with indications of up to a foot of snow in some areas.
National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said, in an AP story, that parts of Colorado, Kansas and northern Missouri could get 10 to 12 inches of snow. Dodge City, Kan., was bracing for up to 16 inches of snow.
Officials feared the winter storm would be the worst in the Midwest since the Groundhog Day blizzard in 2011. A two-day storm that began Feb. 1, 2011, was blamed in about two dozen deaths and left hundreds of thousands without power, some for several days.
Schools were closed in northern Arizona and Colorado with snow there. Mindy Crane, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, said hundreds of plows had been deployed for what was expected to be one of the most significant snow storms of the season.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback closed state government from Thursday morning through Friday morning and urged residents to stay off the roads.
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